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Wednesday, December 01, 2010

Married to a non-reader

When I was younger, if you'd asked me the type of man that I would eventually end up with there'd have been no hesitation. I'd have answered that my 'ideal' partner would HAVE to love books as much as I did. In fact, in my head, I figured I'd end up with someone quite artsy and we'd lounge about talking about literature and history and art. I pictured heated debates and a house messily covered in stacks of books and between the two of us, there'd be a lot of ink-stained fingers. Oh how I laugh at those daydreams. Because I did not end up with an artsy-book lover.

No. In fact, I married a man who reads maybe 1-2 books a year, if that. And you know what? It turned out pretty perfectly. Because outside of books and literature, there's a whole world of fascinating things to love. N may not read the books that I like, but that's OK. Because books aren't everything and I love them enough for the both of us. Instead, he has an interest in computers, photography, in music, in cooking. And while N doesn't read much, when he does finish a book, it's usually a good one and he passes on the recommendations!

We don't sit around discussing the latest book news like in my daydream, but we have gorgeous photos of our boys on our walls.* I love listening to him sing and play the piano while I read my book on the sofa. He cooks me delicious things. When I break my phone/laptop/some random electrical item, which I'm bound to do, N can usually fix it for me. We watch movies together, play board games, he's much better at arts and crafts with the kids than I am. He always makes me laugh. In fact, thinking about it, I don't bring a whole lot to the table, do I?

And there's always something to discuss with somebody who doesn't share all my same interests. I've had an amazing and interesting time married to N. Why am I telling you all of this? Tomorrow is our 10th wedding anniversary and the years have passed like the blink of an eye.

Happy anniversay N!

*Do check out N's photography blog and you can wish him a happy anniversary as well :)

12 comments:

That's a lovely post, and one I can really relate to. My partner reads a little (maybe a book a month), and sometimes I do wish that all those books on the shelf were being read by both of us. I think the key thing is that they read occasionally, which means they can understand why we read and what we get out of it. I've known people who don't read books *ever* and can't see the point, and I think it would be hard to reconcile that!

10 years, that's wonderful! I married a non-reader last year and I'm with you, if I'd married someone just like me we'd never get our noses out of our books. It's nice to have someone with diverse interests that encourages my reading, but also gets me out of my comfort zone. Congrats!

I can relate to this post in so many ways. Even though I'm not married yet, I've always been convinced that I would never marry someone who doesn't read. Somewhere along the line, I've eased up a lot on my stance and now think that marrying someone who doesn't read could actually be a good thing. After all, one of us has to live in the real world, right? :)

Maybe a kind anniversary gift would be for you to read and review all time classic, Jeffy the Burglar's Cat? ;) Happy anniversary. Personally I never thought I'd find that special someone and, I'm very lucky and thankful that I have, I love you and our kids and very grateful to have you in my life. :)